I have nothing against this in principle, I've done something similar myself, twice, with Jens Voigt. Important differences, though. Those rides were organised by a friend of the man himself and staffed by volunteers, the £100 fee pretty much all went to charity (the first year raised £10,000, the second £8200), and there were a maximum of 100 riders on each. Jens was no less generous with his time and each time has also brought a bag full of team kit, much of it custom and/or personalised, that was then auctioned on
eBay to further aid the charities. Oh, and last year's ride was three days after he got the hour record, and he was still hurting.....
Suffice to say, I feel very happy to have stumped up the dosh and would unreservedly recommend it to anyone (Jens was hoping, with a bit more time on his hands, to make it bigger and even better). Whereas Ms Rowsell's ride unfortunately smacks of the all-too-common charity business model, with the emphasis on business.